How to Take Proper Care of Your Garbage Disposal

The garbage disposal is one of the most important components of your kitchen plumbing system. Without a working garbage disposal, your pipes would be more likely to clog, waste could backup into your drains, and your pipes may even need some major repairs. However, if you don’t take proper care of your garbage disposal, you may find that your garbage disposal gives out far too soon.

Make sure that your kitchen plumbing system continues to work properly for years to come by taking the right steps now to protect your plumbing and your disposal unit in the future. Follow our handy guide, and call The Sunny Plumber as soon as you encounter trouble with your kitchen plumbing in Green Valley.

Avoid these Items – Garbage disposals are suited to process a wide range of food items. However, they can’t process non-food items or hard food items like meat bones and popcorn kernels. You should also avoid fibrous food items like celery that could wrap around the impeller and stop the motor. And fats, oils, and grease (F.O.G.) can coat the disposal unit so that it runs less efficiently and they can cog your drains.

Use Cold Water – As we mentioned before, F.O.G. should be avoided whenever possible as it solidifies in the pipes and collects debris. However, many of the foods you eat contain grease and fats that could still damage your pipes or coat the disposal unit. But if you use cold water every time you run the garbage disposal, grease gets a chance to solidify before it clogs your drains so that the disposal unit can break it up.

Rip Food into Smaller Pieces – While the garbage disposal should be able to handle most types of food, larger chunks of food are more difficult. Rip large pieces of food into smaller pieces, and put it into the drain a little bit at a time.

Schedule Regular Maintenance – You should also schedule maintenance for your plumbing system every year. During a maintenance, a technician will look at your entire plumbing system in order to let you know about any potential repairs. They may clean parts like the garbage disposal and make some adjustments to the water heater. The technician can let you know if your garbage disposal shows too many signs of wear and tear and give you tips and tricks to take care of it in the future.